Third-rail covering.



F. H. LINDSLEY." THIRD RAIL COVERING. APPLIGATION IVILED MAB.20,1911.

' m \MT 55555: N NvEp/ aR: QQ EWMAQNAXKAnRQQ Patentd Dec. 5,1911.

FREDERICK HALE LINDS LEY, OF IPAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND.

THIRD-RAIL COVERING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5,1911.

Application filed March 20, 1911. Serial No. 615,490.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Fnnnnnrox H. LINDs- LEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Pawtucket, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Third-Rail Coverings, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in electric railways and more particularly to means for shielding the so-called third rail in order to afford protection to persons against danger from the current in said rail.

WVith this end in view my invention consists of the novel construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved third-rail covering, as partially broken away and showing the means for separating the doors of the same. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the covering taken on line m.-00. of Fig. 1, showing the doors closed. Fig. 3 is a similar section taken on line y.y. of Fig. 1, showing the doors brought to their open position by the separating means. Fig. 4 is a plan view, showing the separating means carried by the trolley shoe-post, and one pair of doors open, and the next pair of doors as at the moment of being acted upon to open by the said separating means, and, Fig. 5 is a detail section of one of the separators for each pair of doors of the safety appliance.

Like reference characters indicate like parts.

On the cross-ties a, a is mounted the energized third-rail b. The housing to cover this rail 6 is preferably constructed from sheet metal and consists of walls 0, 0 disposed beyond each side of said rail and each wall having an integral outwardly extending flange, as 0, 0 and doors 0!, d hinged to the upper part of said walls, as at points 6, e. A strip of insulating material f is interposed between each cross-tie a; and flange 0 of each wall.

The doors, designated by reference letters d, d as a whole in Fig. 3, are constructed alike and arranged in pairs or sections of equal length, and each door arches from its pivot center 6 to a point about midway of its cross-section, as at d, from whence it extends straight, as at d to form a bearing surface for the separating means, presently described, to contact upon during the time each pair of doors orsections is kept in an open position, and this straight portion 0Z terminates with an outward bend d so as to leave a clearance-space g between eachebend d of each pair of doors, when the latter are in a normal closed position as indicated at the left-hand part of Fig. l.

Pull springs h, h are interposed between the walls 0, 0, and the doors 0?, d, to keep the latter in a closed position after the separating means has passed each pair of doors, and each door is provided with a shoulder 0Z to bear against the inner surface of each wall 0, to limit the extent of closing movement of each door.

The ends of each door turn upwardly, at points 6Z5, (:3 in Fig. 3, to permit wheels, of the separating means, to contact with in opening each pair of doors to pass upon the bearing surfaces d 0Z My improved means toaopen one pair of doors of the housing, as described, consists of a support 2" integral with the post 2', which is carried by the car and having the usual contact shoe 2' and said support provided with two pairs of wheels whose tires are of insulating material, as j, and each pair of wheels mounted on fixed studs 70, k of the support a" and each pair of studs extends at an angle outwardly from each other at each end and above said support, in or der to have the axis of each wheel in a plane parallel with each bearing surface 6?, after each pair of doors 0!, is brought to its open position, in the manner shown in Fig. 3. I

Assuming'the car to be moving in the direction indicated by the arrow r in Fig. 1: as the separating means, above described, passes through and holds one door-section open, the clearance-space thereby provided is always sufiicient to allow the post i being free of metal contact with the bends d of the doors of this section, in the manner as indicated at g at the right-hand of Fig. 4E, and when the front pair of wheels come in contact with the upwardly turned ends 61 d of the next adjacent door-section they cause this latter section to open to the normal position shown in Fig. 3, and so on throughout the passing of the separating means from one section to another.

By my construction and arrangement of parts I provide a structure which may be material, Walls beyond each side of the rail and secured to the cross ties of the latter; insulating material interposed between the ties and said Walls; doors arranged in pairs pivotally mounted at the upper part of said Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Walls, each door curved over toward the rail and terminating With a straight outer portion to form a bearing surface for the treads of said Wheels and each door having an integral shoulder to prevent each pair of 20 FREDERICK HALE LINDSLEY.

Witnesses:

C. T. HANNIGAN, PETER C. CANNON.

Washington, D. O. 

